[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 214 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

103d CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 214

  On health care for Members of Congress and for the American people.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                 May 17 (legislative day, May 16), 1994

Mr. Wellstone submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
               the Committee on Labor and Human Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  On health care for Members of Congress and for the American people.

Whereas the American people want and deserve the same high quality health care 
        as Members of Congress;
Whereas the best assurance for our constituents that their health care needs 
        will be protected is to provide them with the same high quality care we 
        receive at a cost they can afford;
Whereas Members of Congress, like all Federal employees, are automatically 
        eligible under the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) for 
        health care coverage, with no pre-existing condition exclusions, and 
        employers pay a significant portion of premium costs;
Whereas premiums, cost sharing requirements (such as copayments and 
        deductibles), benefits, and choice of caregivers vary among the plans 
        offered under FEHBP;
Whereas the health plan that offers the greatest choice of caregivers, the best 
        schedule of copayments and deductibles, and the best package of benefits 
        currently available through FEHBP is also the most expensive plan;
Whereas Members of Congress have sufficient incomes to allow them to enroll in 
        the best health plans offered under FEHBP without spending more than 
        three percent of their incomes;
Whereas the best health plans are not similarly affordable for middle- and 
        lower-income Federal employees;
Whereas all FEHBP plans are better than many health care reform proposals now 
        before Congress in that they offer a defined package of benefits with an 
        employer contribution;
Whereas improvements are necessary even to the best plan available under FEHBP, 
        including needed services such as full coverage for long-term care and 
        dental care, and improvements that can only be accomplished through 
        health care reform, such as expanding public health systems and 
        coordinating care among providers; and
Whereas the health and well-being of our Nation, and our ability to control 
        health care costs by covering everyone for a broad array of accessible 
        health services that will keep people healthy, require that Congress 
        enact the best possible health care reform legislation: Now, therefore, 
        be it
    Resolved, That the Congress should enact health care reform that 
guarantees everyone health care as good as the best health care that 
will be available to Members of Congress.

                                 <all>